hello there. welcome to this edition of "newsline." glad you could join us. it's tuesday, september 21st, 11:00 a.m. in tokyo. u.s. vice president joe biden said japan is central to u.s. efforts to improve relations with china. his comment came amid growing tension between china and japan amid the arrest of a chinese trawler captain. >> i would argue strongly there

is an emerging relationship that has to be -- we have to get right between the united states and china. but quite frankly, i don't know how that relationship can be made right other than going through tokyo. >> biden also said japanese cooperation was vital in dealing with north korea. >> there is no possibility of us getting a policy correct and being successful in the korean peninsula without japan. >> the riff between china and japan is growing over the arrest of a chinese fishing captain we mentioned just now. for allegedly colliding with japan coast guard ships. the incident has caused a backlash against japan in china. china postponed its invitation to a japanese youth delegation that was to start a four-day tour of shanghai on

tuesday. o 1,000 japanese youngsters were scheduled to vice president. and ticket sales for the japanese pop group smap were suspended. u.s. secretary of sta state steinberg said the riff was unfortunate in light of efforts to repair the relationship in recent years. >> good relations between china and japan are interests. the important thing is to sustain dialogue and engagement is the best way to move forward. >> the u.s. military has deployed its latest unmanned surveillance aircraft in guam. the state-of-the-art drone is expected to monitor military activities in north xrkorea and china. american officials held a ceremony at anderson air force base in guam on monday to mark

the deployment of the global hawk. after the ceremony, u.s. commander general gary north expressed hope the cutting edge spy aircraft will improve the air force's capabilities in the asia pacific region. >> it is the perfect place to bed down a platform with this capacity that enables us to be able to fly missions north, south, east and west in an equi-distant environment that meets our mission requirements. >> the drone can search and monitor targets from an altitude of 20,000 meters. it has precision radar that works under any weather conditions. this is the first time the u.s. military has deployed the global hawk in the west pacific region. two more will arrive in guam by the end of the year. general north suggested the air force will cooperate with japan, south korea and other u.s. allies in southeast asia in operating the aircraft.

north korea says it will hold an important conference of its ruling workers party on tuesday next week. the country is reported to be preparing for a transfer of power from leader kim jong-il to his successor. [ speaking a foreign language ] >> the workers party holds conferences when necessary in the periods between party conventions. it uses them to discuss urgent issues and elect or expel members of its central committee. it's only held a conference twice before, in 1958 and 1966. the party's central committee appears to be dysfunctional as more than half its original 140 members have died or been expelled. a key part of the central committee originally had five members, but now only has one,

kim jong-il. there's widespread speculation that the conference will change the members of the central committee and push forward the transfer of power from kim jong-il to his third son. in new york, world leaders have begun discussions on ways to achieve the millennium development goals to eliminate poverty in developing countries. the clock is ticking. we created a blueprint for ending extreme poverty. >> the millennium development goals adopted at the u.n. millennium summit in 2000 are a set of eight goals that include having poverty and hunger and reducing the infant death rate by two-thirds by 2015. the summit started at the u.n. headquarters on monday and leaders from 140 nations are participating. they're reporting on progress and discussing ways to work towards the goals.

french president nicolas sarkozy proposed the introduction of a small international tax on economic transactions as a financial source to end poverty. industrialized nations said they have plans to create means for economic support, but developing nations noted the support is necessary immediately. >> we have lagged behind in delivering this important target. >> the meeting is scheduled to continue until wednesday. japanese prime minister naoto kan and u.s. president barack obama will make speeches outlining their policies to achieve the goals. the philippine government has disclosed part of its investigation on the manila bus hijacking that ended with eight hong kong tourists being killed.

the report says senior police officials did not obey an order by president benigno aquino and made other serious errors. the sight-seeing bus was hijacked in august by a former policeman armed with guns. police officers stormed the bus and shot him, but in the rescue operation, eight hong kong tourists were killed. the philippine government set up an in-house panel to examine the rescue and released part of the report on monday. the panel says the failure in freeing the hostages came from assigning inexperienced policemen to negotiate. it also mentioned a lack of effort to gather information about the mental state of the hostage-taker. the report also says president aquino ordered the best national police unit to be sent, but senior police officials put responsibility in the hands of police at the site. as a result, it took a long time to carry out the rescue operation. president aquino says he is considering punishing senior police and government officials who handled the incident.

a freight train slammed into an express train stopped in central india killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 30. the crash took place early monday. officials say the freight train was on the wrong track and hit the passenger train head-on. indian railway authorities suspect that the driver of the freight train overshot a stop signal, causing the accident. trains are the most common long distance transportation in india. in many local areas, railway signals are switched manually. as a result, experts say miscommunication among railway workers and oversight by train drivers apparently lead to repeated train accidents in the country. in july, an express train smashed into a train that was making a stop at a station in the eastern state of west bengal, killing 58 people.

we take a look at the latest in business news. >> hello. a panel of u.s. economists and academics has declared that the united states is out of the recession that began in december 2007, triggered by subprime loan problems. the national bureau of economic research said on monday that the previous recession ended in june last year. making it the lowest downturn in the post worry period. the private research board is certified by the u.s. government to determine economic pace and slumps. the panel warned its announcement does not mean everything is back to normal. it said it will keep a close watch of future economic trends. the panel had been cautious about declaring an end to the recession. some indicators reflect hard economic times. u.s. unemployment remains high despite continued positive growth since the third quarter last year. the price of iron, ore, coal

and other natural resources has continued to drop. while prices of iron ore and other minerals rose sharply in the last year because of countries for use in construction. in april, major companies providing iron ore and coal doubled. as demand began diminishing this summer, the firms have decided to lower prices. compared to prices of the previous three months, iron ore would be 13% less and coal about 7% less. in response, japanese companies and automakers will soon start to negotiate the price of steel for the latter half of this year. negotiations will be tough as auto manufacturers are expected to ask the steel makers to decrease prices to better reflect the current trend. japanese firms have started working together to try to

stabilize the supply of renewable energy from solar and wind power, which fluctuates due to weather conditions. toke i don't have electric power, toshiba and hitachi and others have signed on to the project. they want to store electricity generated by the sources such as solar power facilities. the stored energy will be designated to areas short of electricity. the companies hope to implement the plan in five years and export energy to china and other emerging economies. tokyo stocks rose slightly on tuesday morning, following sharp gains on the nikkei. the nikkei ended at 9,664, up from friday. the market was closed on monday for a national holiday. dealers say exporters led the

ri rise as the yen halted as rapid prize against the dollar. the dollar is moving in a narrow range against the yen. the greenback is 85.57-61. many investors are sidelined ahead of the u.s. federal reserve's policy meeting later in the day. they are waiting to see if the central bank will implement any additional monetary easing. here's a look at the latest long-term interest rates. here's a look at the japanese ten-year government bond. in other asian markets, the hang seng opened higher. the shanghai is up 0.3% as well as the sse composite. animals have been known to provide physical and emotional support to the sick and elderly. demand for a therapeutic robot

designed to look like a baby seal is on the rise. facilities in more than 30 countries have begun using the japanese robot. >> reporter: in early september, welfare and nursing care experts from around the world attendeded a seminar on japanese businesses that catered to the elderly. the seminars' biggest attraction was the therapeutic robot. the 57-centimeter robot is equipped with artificial intelligence. he can learn all sorts of things and recognize its own name. >> i had no idea it would be so real and so responsive to caresses. >> just very comforting and calming. you feel -- also the sense of being needed. >> reporter: he was created by a senior researcher at the national institute of advanced industrial science and

technology. he began developing therapeutic robots 17 years ago. he was determined to build a robot that looked and moved as much as possible, like a real pet. shibata chose not to model it on cats and dogs as he felt that would fall short of the real thing. instead, he opted for baby harp seals. he believed since people rarely have the opportunity to encounter baby seals, they would have no bias as to how the animals should act. so he went to st. lawrence bay canada to understand how seals behave in their natural habitat. he recorded the seals' cries so their robotic protege would have over 20 real sounds with which to be programmed. the robotic seal is covered with sensors that enable it to respond to visual, audio and tactile stimuli. shibata developed the touch

sensors, placed in 12 spots around the robot, so when a person strokes him, he can determine the direction and speed as well as amount of pressure being applied. >> translator: he learns who movement will encourage its owner to pet it. the owner or others who stroke him, will determine what kind of personality it has and the movements it makes. >> reporter: o . >> reporter: 1,700 robots have been sold. and many hospitals have validated its therapeutic effect. >> translator: hello there. oh, you're so smart. >> reporter: five years ago, this day care center in toyama prefecture started using the robot. they said they felt noticeably better after interacting with the robot. >> translator: everyone's face lights up when they say him.

he's definitely an ice-breaker. now everyone wants to touch him. so visitors talk to each other about taking turns and how they feel about the robot. >> reporter: another study was conducted on 14 dementia patients at a clinic outside tokyo. half of the patients showed improvement in brain wave activity after spending time with him. some patients who used to wander frequently noticeably truced this behavior, making it easier for care-gives. >> translator: this robot can cut nursing care costs, partly by slowing the degenerative process of dementia. th in this way, i believe he can make a valuable social contribution. >> reporter: this professor has been researching nursing care facilities to come up with a user manual to help increase his therapeutic effectiveness.

staff are advised to encourage the elderly to touch and stroke the robot beforehanding it over to them. they're also encouraged to treat the robot just like a living animal. for example, they must not let on when the battery runs out but rather pretend he fell asleep. >> translator: research shows after reading the manual, workers interact more with users who are playing with the robot. users smile more too. >> reporter: last year, he went on sale in the u.s. after the food and drug administration certified it as a medical device. a nonprofit organization in denmark is currently trying to introduce 1,000 of the robots at facilities for the elderly next year. the cuddly, furry animal is now bringing smiles and comfort to people all over the world. next is a recap of the latest market figures.

that's all for now in "biz news." the previous generation of

japanese fathers often left child raising to their wives. but now that they have retired, many say they want to help raise their grandchildren. >> reporter: the japanese mid wives association holds classes on caring for children and grandchildren. this year, there's something different about the classes. now more older men take part. on this day, three men in their 60s are attending. among them is this 67-year-old. his first grandchild was born in june. he attends this class with his son and daughter-in-law. >> translator: i'm retired, so i want to do what i can to contribute. and he's so cute. >> translator: i think we will both keep working. we will need our parents' support. my father has been saying that

he wants to learn how to take care of children, so we decided to take the classes together. >> reporter: an npo surveyed 200 people and found that 60% of the men in their 50s want to help raise their grandchildren, as did 80% of the men in their 60 or older. the men, now over 60, had children during japan's high growth period. for the corporate warriors, work always came first. most men didn't get involved in child rearing. for most of his career, this man worked as a banker. now at 65, he has the opportunity to help raise his grandchildren. he often takes care of his

3-year-old grandchild. they spend the whole day together, from meals to bath to bed time. >> translator: i used to be so busy with work that i'd get home late. when i got home, my children were already asleep. that is why i think it is so precious to be with my grandchildren. when i'm with them, i feel more alive. >> reporter: now more elderly men want to get involved in raising children besides their grandchildren. 63-year-old nakata is training to help out at a day care. after retiring three years ago, nakata took courses and received a nursing school certificate. he works at a day care for half a week.

in these challenging economic times, more parents have to work, and the demand for day care workers increases. so this center welcomes men in their 50s, 60s and over. >> translator: so many young parents are struggling to raise their children and they're so isolated. i heard many parents say it would be a great help if we can leave our children with someone. i think that there's a big demand for grandpa power. >> translator: it's worthwhile work. i get a great sense of accomplishment when mothers come over and thank me. at the end of each day, i say to myself, i'm glad that i do this work. i feel very fulfilled by it. >> due to this new interest in

child rearing, in the last three years, the number of men over 60 who work at government-certified day cares as doubled. now we take a look at the global weather forecast with sumi zushi. time for your world weather update. in eastern asia, keeping a close eye on what was a typhoon. it's drivening southern china right now. due to wake landfall in taiwan over the weekend as a typhoon. we'll start off with footage taken on monday. this will be southern taiwan. you can see streets heavily inundated. over 100 people said to be injured from the toppled buildings and signs as well. the army had to be brought in to rescue the residents out of flooded buildings.

the cleanup efforts have started and it is now -- the storm system is now affecting southern china. just in the last 24 hours, again, heavy amounts of rain recorded in coastal areas. some areas picked up more than 300 millimeters. still quite a serious situation here. the tropical depression will affect mainly this province over the next 24 hours. heavy rain, as much as 250 millimeters anticipated. heavy winds and showers moving through northeastern china. that will be sweeping across the korean peninsula. northern japan too dealing with hefty showers. as that rain subsides around noon, you can see a new system arriving on wednesday. the southern half of the country is going to stay dry. it will be very warm, once again, for you. tokyo with 32 degrees. a little bit cool in beijing with that rain and fwhiwind in place, 19 degrees.

35 degrees in chongching. in north america, hurricane igor has picked up more pace. it stays offshore. it will get close to the south southeastern tip of canada and maintain that strength. we will likely see damaging winds as well as torrential rains, as much as 200 millimeters in the next day or so. keep updated with your local reports if you are in the area. it's producing dangerous rip currents as well as large swells. across the eastern third of the u.s. and canada, looking generally calm and dry. central areas dealing with very windy conditions today. red flag warnings in place across the rockies and towards the north. the storm system likely to kick up a few strong thunderstorms in minnesota. relatively cool across central and western canada and down in the south. still dealing with lots of

showers and lots of heavy rain in place across mexico after hurricane karl made landfall of friday. remnants causing havoc on. 25 degrees in mexico city today with heavy rain, stays hot in houston. 33. 31 up in chicago. it will be quite cool in winnipeg and vancouver. that's what's going on just now. here is your extended forecast now.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in

tokyo. thanks for joining us.